CTG

I’ve been singing since before I could talk. My parents got me into piano and music lessons at a very young age. My family is all about music with one uncle who is a jazz musician (Mike Rud), another uncle who is in two rock bands (Tim Rud; Cooler and Playground Hero) and a father who was once the keyboardist Playground Hero!
When I was twelve I started writing my own songs, including the verse to our first single, Down by the River. I knew I wanted to be in a band! So, at age fourteen I began jamming with our drummer (some one my mom lined up for me, heaven bless her), Jay Wallace. We became nothing less than best friends pretty quickly and went through a bunch of different members.
When I turned sixteen I started having a song writing kick. My songs were just getting better. So, I decided it was time to get serious. We needed members and fast. We found the right bassist when I met Crystal Sherrah, at Stages Dance Company. I remembered thinking that she looked like some one who played an instrument. So she played bass and, out of necessity, I played guitar.
The band was doing a lot of dirty work: practising, learning new songs, practising, and did I mention practising? Eventually we got to play one of the coolest gigs ever; we got to open up for my Uncle Tim’s band in Cowichan! This is where Tyler Swagar first heard our band (he liked the tri-tones I put in Bad Redhead) and our parents wanted to hook us up for a jam session.
Meanwhile, Crystal got us all signed up for Vancouver Island’s Got Talent and I was signing myself up for Victoria Idol; two local talent competitions. At the audition for Vancouver Island’s Got Talent, we met up with Tyler again and the next day we were jamming!
With in a week or two he was our guitar player, but we had to keep in on the down low because we already signed up for the talent competition was a three-piece. So, for a few months we worked on our VIGT pieces separately as well as the album of songs we wanted to record.
We managed to make it to the semi-finals of VIGT and I managed to reach the finals of Victoria Idol. The band really grew through VIGT. We got a lot tighter and we were able to score a producer through it! And I scored the opportunity for Tyler and me open up for Suzanne Vega playing acoustic CTG material.
And finally we could focus on being a four-piece band. We recorded our single, Down by the River, in Oakstone Sound with the producer we met in VIGT, Craig Fraser. And now we’re trying really hard to promote our single and look for gigs and new opportunities! If you’re in need of an upbeat pop-punk band you can contact us ctgband@gmail.com, cautiontapegirl@hotmail.com, 250 391 0208, 250 893 0903 or add me on Facebook (Maggie Rud).